Cross Country

SDSU Cross Country Gears Up For District Meet

Nov. 7, 2001

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This Week
Following a week off, the San Diego State cross country team travels to Tucson, Ariz., for the District 8 Championships. Competition gets underway Saturday at 10:30 MT at the Randolph North Golf Course. The event will be hosted by the University of Arizona. SDSU will be sending four runners to compete in the 6K race - Allison Brown, Jennifer Stakiw, Alicia Stewart and Amanda Vielbaum. Since it is only sending five runners SDSU will not be participating in the team scoring portion of the event. To be eligible for team score a school must have at least five runners.

Recapping The MWC Championships
The Aztecs placed two runners in the top 35 at the 2001 Mountain West Conference Championships held at the Paradise Hills Golf Course on Oct. 27. Pacing SDSU on the 6K course were juniors Alicia Stewart and Jennifer Stakiw. Stewart's time of 23:24 earned her 32nd place and Stakiw came in 34th with a time of 23:25. The next Aztecs to cross the finish line were sophomore Allison Brown (23:51) and senior Amanda Vielbaum (23:57), who finished 40th and 42nd, respectively. Vielbaum's time was a season best. SDSU finished seventh in the event's team scoring with 172 points and a spot ahead of UNLV (214). Brigham Young took the league title with 17 points followed by Colorado State (45) and Air Force (113).

SDSU This Year
Prior to the Mountain West Conference meet, SDSU finished fourth in a 13-team field on Oct. 13 at the UCSD Invite. The Aztecs placed two runners in the top 20, with juniors Alicia Stewart and Jennifer Stakiw finishing 16th and 18th, respectively. On Oct. 6, SDSU placed sixth at the Long Beach State Invitational. An eighth-place finish and a season-best time by junior Alicia Stewart paced the team as three Aztecs placed in the top 25. On Sept. 29, SDSU placed 16th in a 25-team field at the Stanford Invite in Palo Alto. The event was the Aztecs' first 6,000-meter course. The team's top finisher was Jennifer Stakiw, who crossed the finish line at 22:53 and in 53rd place. The previous Saturday, SDSU ran to a 10th-place finish in a 25-team field at the UC Riverside Invite. SDSU was led by junior Alicia Stewart, who placed 29th with a time of 19:34 and junior Jennifer Stakiw's 30th-place finish of 19:35. The scarlet and black got its 2001 campaign started with an eighth-place finish at the CSU Fullerton Jammin' Invitational on Sept. 1. The Aztecs were led by junior Jennifer Stakiw, whose time of 19:43.30 was good for 42nd-place, and Allison Brown's time of 20:22.40 earned her 69th-place.

Coaching Staff
The Aztecs are led by the coaching staff of Rahn Sheffield and Jennifer Nanista. A 1990 graduate of SDSU, Nanista is one of the best middle distance runners to don the scarlet and black. She finished second in the 800 meters at both the 1989 and '90 Big West Championships.